Under the Tuscan Sun – Lynn's Travel Adventures

June 24

We were in 4 different regions today. We started in Tuscany and when we got to Cortona we were on the border between Tuscany and Umbria but I guess “Under the Umbrian Sun” didn’t have the same ring to it. We were in Perugia when we were at the lake, we drove through Umbria again after leaving the lake and finally tonight were in Lazio.

Yesterday (Sunday) was pretty quiet. After sitting by the pool for a couple of hours we went back to Volterra for lunch. But that was pretty much it.

Today started out with a trip to the northern suburbs of Florence to mail home a box. It was the closest Mail Box Etc., and was only about 10 minutes out of our way. We wanted to mail the alabaster lamp as we (well really me) was paranoid about trying to get it on the plane. I didn’t want to deal with security rejecting it so I thought the best thing to do was mail it back. As long as we were mailing a box we sent our jackets (which we haven’t used in 4 weeks) and other things we bought. So our two carry-on sized bags are almost 16 pounds lighter. Yeah!

Then it was on to our last Airbnb home in Castel Madama, near Tivoli. But since we our route took us within 25 km (about 15 miles) of Cortona (the town from the movie Under the Tuscan Sun), we decided to take a detour. We’re so glad we did as it was a really cute town. It seemed like an artist colony as we saw quite a few galleries and workshops. The town is on a hill and was beautiful from a distance but we couldn’t find anyplace to pull over to take a picture. Here are a few from town.

Delicious looking gelato; we didn’t have any because we were full from lunch. The presentation is always so beautiful.

Main town squ;are with the town hall. This was the square where the movie producers added a fountain for a couple of scenes. It’s not there any longer.

Ate at the restaurant just through the arch.

Tuscany is famous for sunflowers; this was so pretty.

The side streets are so beautiful. This one looks like a post card. This was actually a pretty steep hill.

As I said, there were a lot of artist workshops and we found one shop we really liked. The art was almost abstract, which neither one of us like, but they were so different they were actually very pretty. We bought a couple of very small pieces that easily fit into our suitcase.

Posing with the artist. You can see some of his work in the background. We liked the ones in neutral tones rather than the full color.

After lunch we started back on the road south, but detoured once again to Lake Trasimeno, only about 25 minutes south of Cortona. It was a beautiful drive and the lake looked amazing. We wouldn’t mind staying for a few weeks someday. It’s on our list, but as you know, our list is pretty long so who knows when we’ll actually get there again.

Have no idea what town this was but thought the building was pretty cool.

Beautiful Tuscan countryside. That’s a different lake in the background but don’t remember the name.

Once we stopped detouring it was only about another 90 minutes to our country house in Castel Madama. The house is very nice and our host was amazing. She drove us to pick up a few groceries as she didn’t want us to drive into town. Now that we’ve been there we understand. It’s a typical hilltop town with streets barely wide enough for a horse cart let alone a car. We were very appreciative of the ride.

Tomorrow, we’re seeing our last few sites….Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este both of which are only about 15 minutes from here. Then it’s back to the airport to drop our stuff at the Hilton before taking the car back. It will be a busy day.

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